CIL:12653, Insect host: Dalbulus maidis (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae), epithelial cell, bacteria. In Cell Image Library

Spiroplasmas are bacteria in the Class Mollicutes that are frequently associated with insects and/or plants. This confocal laser scanning micrographs show aggregates of symbiotic/ commensal spiroplasma-like organisms (SLOs) in the midgut (mg) and filter chamber (fc) of a leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis. Large accumulations of these SLOs (bright red areas, asterisks) were found in the gut lumen, but unlike the plant-pathogenic mollicutes, they did not seem to invade the gut epithelium or other tissues in their insect hosts. This image is related to Fig. 3 in Arch. Microbiol (2011) 193:35-44.